Australian digital distributor Valleyarm relaunches with new owners

Australian-owned digital music distribution company Valleyarm has relaunched this week with new owners and a new company name.

VA Digital has welcomed new chairman and shareholder Andrew Randall, a green energy entrepreneur, and new managing director Victor Gugger, an investment banker.

According to Gugger, its focus is now on YouTube. VA Digital has been awarded YouTube Multi Channel Network partner status with licenses for both music and entertainment. It’s now monetising global television, film and music content for digital rights owners all around the world.

“Dealing with influencers across platforms like YouTube and social media showed us that a digital company working in the music sphere could be more than just revenue collectors,” said Gugger. “We could maximise the revenue as well as just collect it as well as provide opportunities for exposure and we really didn’t see anyone else playing in that space.

“It’s a convergence of income streams and promotional platforms that really haven’t been looked at together before and we really believe that having a commercial eye to all potential digital opportunities in an artist’s career is a real advantage,” he added.

Under Director Matt Campbell, the VA Digital MCN provides YouTube Channel creation and management for clients including television producers Beyond International (Mythbusters, Numberjacks), and Australian Children’s Television Foundation.

The company also provides distribution to hundreds of music platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Deezer, Amazon and Guvera. VA Digital is linked to more digital stores in Asia than any other platform; in Japan alone it distributes to around 100 digital stores.

Leading the music team is Dave Sayer, ex-Premier Artists (Agent), Love Outside Andromeda (Manager) and Rail (Musician). Heading VA Digital’s management arm is Clare Winterbourn.

Gugger said VA Digital has been built for the new generation of music consumers who have grown up with a belief that they do not pay individually for music tracks.

“With this in mind, it is most important to build many channels of revenues for today’s artists with downloads, all brands of streaming and YouTube,” he said. “Done effectively, the same or better revenue can be achieved in these moving markets.”

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